India’s Aurobindo Pharma reports profit fall as cost rise outweighs sales growth

Audio By Carbonatix

(Reuters) -Indian drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma reported a lower first-quarter profit on Monday, as expenses grew faster than revenue – stung by weak prices in the key U.S. market.

The company’s consolidated net profit fell to 8.25 billion rupees ($94.2 million) in the quarter ended June 30, from 9.19 billion rupees, a year ago.

Total expenses climbed 4.7%, overshadowing a 4.5% rise in net sales.

For further earnings highlights, click here.

KEY CONTEXT

Most of India’s generic drugmakers get a significant portion of their revenue from North America, where fierce competition has led to lower prices, weighing on the companies’ margins. The U.S. contributed 44.3% to Aurobindo’s topline.

The drugmaker has benefitted from strong demand for its anti-retroviral drugs, which are used for the treatment of HIV patients.

Among Aurobindo’s rivals, Cipla beat quarterly profit estimates, while Dr Reddy’s missed. However, both drugmakers saw weak sales in the U.S.

PEER COMPARISON

Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment

months)

RIC PE EV/EBI Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div

TDA growth (%) growth rating* analysts price yield

(%) target** (%)

Aurobindo Pharma 15.96 8.94 7.53 13.19 Buy 26 0.83 0.39

Ltd

Alembic 24.49 15.10 10.91 25.77 Buy 10 0.96 1.12

Pharmaceuticals

Ltd

Zydus Lifesciences 21.39 13.94 6.75 -5.10 Hold 26 0.96 1.13

Ltd

Cipla Ltd 23.92 15.31 6.65 -0.85 Buy 35 0.89 0.84

* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL TO JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

— All data from LSEG

— $1 = 87.6270 Indian rupees

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)